Blood Lines
by knee-high-socks-and-doctor-who
Summary: "Wait just a second," he whispered into my ear, and suddenly I was frozen. I couldn't even move a muscle if I'd wanted to. "I'm not done with you," he hissed before sinking his teeth into my neck. ShiroIchi/HichiIchi
1. Vampires Will Never Hurt You

New story? What? What is this madness?

Yes, I've started a new story. Get over it.

* * *

The door fell shut with a bang.

It always seemed to escape Shiro as to why the big-busted teal haired girl insisted on listening to the obnoxious pop music. It was loud and annoying and repetitive, and it made his ears hurt. They rarely ever used any electricity, but when they did it was for that _damned stereo_.

Right then a song by "Lady Gaga" was playing, loud and obnoxious as Shiro dropped his keys at the front door and entered the den. It was something about a hooker, and the albino just shook his head in dismay as he found Nel dancing around the living room singing at the top of her lungs.

"Nelliel, if you keep listening to music this loud, I'm going to have to throw away the stereo."

The girl paused, still wiggling a bit to the beat of the music. "I won't let you. It's only good when it's loud." Right then, she was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a black tank top that showed a bit too much cleavage at the moment.

It was a good thing Shiro didn't prefer pussy.

"Turn that damn shit off, honestly," he rubbed at his forehead, scanning the expanse of the den. His eye caught sight of a foot, poking out from underneath the couch. Nel caught his glance.

"It's not what you think!" she nearly shouted. "Honest, he's not dead."

"Then why are you hiding him under the sofa?" Shiro grabbed the foot and pulled the body of the teenage boy out onto the carpet. Sure enough, he was still alive, but he suffered from some minor blood loss.

"I told you not to drink right up until they pass out," the albino scolded. He reached inside the kid's back pocket, reading the name on the ID card. "Keigo Asano. He's only seventeen Nel. Why do you always go for the younger ones?"

"They're easier," she muttered. "They're not as suspicious."

He slapped the wallet into Nel's palm. "You can deal with him. He's not my problem."

"But Shiro," the teal-haired girl whined. "What if he wakes up?"

"Deal with him," he snapped back. "You're like a child. Eventually you'll have to grow up and deal with your own messes, right? So why not start now?"

Nel swallowed back a lump in her throat. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'm just terrible with words, unlike you. You've lived longer than me, but even when you were young you always had a way to make people believe everything you said. I can't do that like you. Everything I say is a lie."

Shiro sighed, pulling a palm up to rest on her cheek. "You're not a liar. You'll come into yourself, and eventually you'll find your own fluency."

Nel's head dropped a bit. "Okay." The girl pulled away, stuffing the wallet into her back pocket before grabbing the teenage boy and hauling him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I'll be back in a bit. Don't wait up for me."

Shiro waved after her as she left, shutting the door softly behind her unlike him. The music was still blaring quite loudly, and the albino strolled over to turn the stereo off. His fingers itched, willing him to do something more active than this.

A snack. That's what he needed.

_A snack_.

* * *

The elevator finally came to calm stop on the ground floor, and I practically pushed myself through the doors and out into the rainy evening from the lobby. I was sick of work; so sick of it I couldn't even describe it. I was a journalist, and yes that may seem like a decent job, but those days at the office made me want to scream with rage and boredom combined.

It was going to be the death of me.

Living in the big city, I obviously didn't own a car. The bus wasn't my taste, so I usually preferred to walk. But today was rainy and gross, and I had to dodge puddles so my shoes wouldn't get wet.

"Kurosaki! Hey Ichigo, wait!"

I paused, turning to see the redheaded pineapple named Renji come racing after me with a stack of papers in his hand. "You forgot this on your desk. Thought you might need it."

I frowned at the paperwork, a look of disgust slowly molding its way onto my features. I took it gingerly from his iron grip and mentally willed this loud nuisance to just leave. "Thanks."

"Hey, uh, are you doing anything tonight?"

I sighed. "No, nothing in particular."

"You want to go do something?" he scratched at the back of his head. "You seem like you don't get out much, so I thought—"

"Actually, I am busy tonight," I quickly scrolled through my generic answers in my head. "It's personal stuff." I decided on the most vague one, not feeling too creative at the moment. "I'll see you on Monday, right?"

"Yeah," Renji looked disappointed, and he dropped his hand at his side. "See you Monday."

I waved to him as I crossed the crosswalk, a small bitter smile gracing my lips. He had been chasing me for nearly two months, asking the same questions every Friday night. I had mentally willed myself not to deck him in the face every time he got that sad, disappointed look every time I rejected him. He needed to learn and finally give up; I wasn't going to go out with him.

I stepped in a puddle, and grumbled under my breath, pulling my keys out of my pocket as I saw my street sign come up. I turned down onto the avenue and took the alley, the quickest route straight to my apartment. I admit, it wasn't my best decision to choose to live in such an unsafe neighborhood, but the rent was cheap and everyone kept to himself or herself. I liked seclusion, and this was best way to get it. I was broke most of the time so if I ever got mugged all I'd have to worry about was maybe a few bucks and my driver's license.

I tripped, and dropped my stack of paperwork in a puddle. The pages soaked up the water like a sponge, and before I knew it everything on it was illegible. I cussed colorfully under my breath and gathered the soaked pages up in my hands, only to have a pale hand touch my arm.

I jerked back suddenly, and a few papers fell out of my grasp. My gaze fell to meet the one of the man standing in front of me, oddly pale with white hair and gold on black eyes.

He took my breath away.

I stumbled back a few feet as something in my instincts kicked in, almost like it was telling me there was a bigger predator in the area. This man had an odd smile on is face, quirked at an odd angle so it was almost a smirk but not quite. He had on a worn leather jacket and a navy blue scarf, a pair of jeans riding low on his hips and canvas shoes that looked beyond dirty and worn out.

"Are you alright?" he asked, lilting voice sounding almost concerned. "I didn't mean to scare ya'."

I frowned. "I'm fine, just dropped some paperwork is all."

He moved quickly, almost too quickly as he went to go pick up the stray papers now blowing down the alley. "It's a shame," he said. "Were they important?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

He chuckled. "What's your name, kid?"

"I'm _hardly _a kid," I snapped back, suddenly defensive. "I'm twenty-three. And my name's Ichigo Kurosaki."

The albino laughed again. "I'm Shirosaki, but you can just call me Shiro." He offered a hand in greeting, and I gingerly shook it.

"And what are you doing all the way out here in this dumpy ass neighborhood?" I asked. "You don't really look like you belong here."

"You're right about that," he said. "I don't know. I just felt like taking a walk, and ended up here."

I nodded, and jostled the papers a bit in my arms. "Nice meeting you." I tried to side step him, but instead he caught me by the elbow.

"Wait just a second," he whispered into my ear, and suddenly I was frozen.

I couldn't even move a muscle if I'd wanted to.

"I'm not done with you," he hissed before sinking his teeth into my neck.

He bit me.

He _fucking _bit me.

Everything seemed to melt into a haze of pleasure that coursed through my veins like liquid fire, something in that bite of his that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It took my breath away, and everything in me just succumbed to his actions, thoughts going nowhere past _god this feel good_. My body went slack and I fell into his arms, something wet and warm dribbling down my neck in an oddly grotesque fashion. I dropped the papers with a plop into another puddle, and reached my free hands up to tangle fingers in snowy white hair.

Everything just seemed so damn good, and I didn't want to wake up from this dreamless, hazy sleep that had me moaning and writhing in an indescribable pleasure. I didn't want it to end. I just didn't want it to. My life was so washed out and boring, colorless. I could see everything in Technicolor now, beautiful and vibrant.

I must've been going insane.

I gasped when a sharp pain finally stabbed through all the pleasure, and I felt myself coming down from my high. And _fuck _did it hurt. I whimpered, and my knees felt weak as I gripped harder at his hair to hold myself up.

I didn't want to die. I don't even know why I was thinking that, I just had a feeling my death was imminent in some way.

Such a hefty price for so much pleasure.

The color all drained away. Every bit of strength inside of me was suddenly gone and my muscles were made of jelly. And worst of all, I couldn't breathe. The stabbing, throbbing pain in my neck made me want to scream, but I was too weak.

I looked up to find Shiro's lip smeared with blood, an odd melancholy look on his face. Was it regret? I couldn't tell.

"Don't leave me," I whispered, not quite sure why I said it. "It hurts."

What had just happened?


	2. Bloodstream

*sob* Short chapter is short. I'm SORRY!

* * *

"Hello? Hey, are you awake?"

I awoke with a start, hands scrabbling at my neck where the last sensation had been before I'd passed out. There was a bandage there, and it was stiff as I turned my head. A girl with bright teal hair was staring at me from where I was laying on a sofa.

"He was real rough on you, Ichigo. I told him he should've been a little nicer, you've got a pretty face." She giggled. "Are you hungry? Shiro made me go get food in case you woke up hungry. Most wake up with the munchies after being bitten."

I sat up, still rubbing at my neck. "Bitten?"

"Yeah," she replied cheerily. "Oh— I'm Nel by the way. Usually after people are bitten they're low on iron, so they crave lots of food with iron in them. I thought you would be hungry."

"Uh, thanks for the consideration, but I'm not that hungry," I rubbed at a sore spot on my forehead. "What happened to me? And what is this business about being bitten?"

"Oh, we're vampires."

I nearly choked on my own spit.

She said it so casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the entire world. Her big olive eyes blinked at me, and then she tackled me with a hug. "I'm so glad Shiro found somebody. I've been waiting for him to settle down after all those decades of just snacking off people."

"Wh-what?"

"You're not scaring the kid, are you?" came an all too familiar voice.

Shiro stood in the doorway of the apartment, arms crossed lazily over his chest.

"Of course not!" Nel whined. "I was just trying to explain things to him!"

Shiro's gold eyes hardened, and then his gaze swept over me. "Sorry I'm late. There was some trouble downtown with the Espada."

"Espada?"

Shiro walked over to us and sat down in one of the armchairs. "They're a group of vamps that believe in completely killing and consuming the victims. Us being soulless creatures, by killing the person you can also absorb their soul. It's a very satisfying feeling. We don't do that though."

"Are they like a gang or something?" I was still having a little bit of a hard believing what he was saying was true.

"Kind of," he muttered. "They're dangerous, and every once in a while one of them strays into our hunting grounds and I have to keep them in line. That's what happened earlier."

I swallowed back the lump in my throat. "What happened to me earlier?"

"I fed off you," he said in a clear monotone voice. "You're marked now, with that bite. If any of the Espada come near you they'll know you belong to me."

"_Belong _to you? I'm not a possession."

He shrugged. "It's basically just a figure of speech. I've claimed you, which means you're my vassal. I feed off of you whenever I wish. You've been bound to me kid, the second I bit you."

"That's ridiculous," I said with a start, standing from my seat. "You can't make me do anything." I started to make my way to the door.

"The bond only allows you a twenty foot radius of a leash unless I let you go any farther." He stated, and I froze at the door.

"You're a liar," I muttered. "This is all just ridiculous, some stupid lie to see if I could be fooled or not. Well guess what? You didn't fool me. This is some big hoax—"

"Really?" Shiro was suddenly standing right in front of me, eyes so dark I could see myself in them. His voice had taken on a new tone, low and husky and possibly angry. "You don't believe us?"

Then he bit me.

This time it was on the opposite side of my neck, and I gasped. The pleasure struck me so hard I swear I couldn't breathe. I moaned under my breath and reached up to tangle my hands in his hair once again, begging and pleading against my own conscious will for _more_. It was almost better than sex, and it had a very similar feeling to it only it was far more potent. The pleasure was much stronger than the first bite, and it was starting to consume me.

I couldn't feel any pain. Nothing. My body was on fire and that something in his bite was ripping through my veins at lightning speed.

He let go, and I fell to my knees, weak. The after affect was also similar to the feeling post-orgasm; sated and jelly like.

Shiro leaned in and kissed me, my own blood mixed in with it. I rested my head against his knees and he picked me up from underneath my arms, dragging me over to the couch again.

"Believe me now?" he asked, rubbing as the bloody corners of his lips.

I muttered something under my breath, and brought a hand to my forehead. "What happens if you quit biting me?"

"You'll go through withdrawal, similar to a withdrawal from drugs."

I clenched my teeth. "Alright. That sounds _great_."

Nel looked sad. "He needs blood, Shi. That was really stupid of you. Of all of the things you could've done, this is one you choose? He was already trying to recover."

"Sorry," he muttered, sounding not the least bit apologetic. "Couldn't help myself."

Nel handed me a bag of fast food. "Here, eat. You'll need to get your strength up before we out to meet the Espada."

"What?"

"Oh, didn't he tell you? He wanted to introduce you."

* * *

"Nel used to be a part of the Espada, but I met her the day she fled. Literally ran right into me. We've been working together ever since."

I scratched absently at the bandages on my throat.

"Stop touching them," Nel scolded. "They'll fester."

I dropped my hands into my lap, looking out the window of the car to see us driving into what looked like a very dangerous neighborhood. Everything was dirty, and there wasn't anyone on the streets. Graffiti covered all of the walls of the run down rusty old buildings that lined the street.

"Where do they stay?" I was trying to keep my voice strong, but it wasn't working as well as I'd wanted it to.

"In an abandoned warehouse," Shiro answered from the driver's seat. "Don't be scared, they can't touch you. You've got my scent all over you; they wouldn't even _want _to touch you."

I swallowed back the lump in my throat. "Why are you introducing me to them?"

He went quiet.

"There's a little quarrel going on between them," Nel answered. "He just wants to show them that he's finally found a vassal."

"So, what? Is it a competition or something?"

"No…" Nel drawled. "If you have a vassal you're considered stronger than most vamps. He just wants to show you to them so they'll stop messing around on our hunting grounds."

It sounded like a hell of a lot more of a risk than they let on.


End file.
